Gabby Agbonlahor highlights key reason Aston Villa will struggle to escape PSR troubles
Aston Villa are facing a tough season ahead with uninspiring performances intertwined with financial constraints off the pitch.
A catastrophic winless start to the 2025-26 campaign led to Aston Villa’s president of football operations Monchi leaving the club.
Sources told Football Insider on 25 September that Monchi is closing in on joining Benfica just days after leaving Villa Park.
Roberto Olabe has replaced Monchi at Aston Villa as Unai Emery desperately seeks to turn things around with just three points from five Premier League matches.
Absence of Champions League football was starting point for Aston Villa’s woes
Speaking on talkSPORT (25 September), former Villa frontman Gabby Agbonlahor was analysing his old club’s underwhelming start to the season.
He honed on how no Champions League football saw a collapse in the club’s financial situation with the Villains ranked seventh for wage expenditure in the Premier League.
Agbonlahor elaborated on this, saying: “Missed out on Champions League football, that’s where the problem started because Aston Villa’s wage bill, they’re paying some players who are good players, but they don’t really deserve £120,000-a-week, £150,000-a-week.
“There’s too many players earning over £100,000-a-week. 91 per cent of Aston Villa’s revenue is going on wages.
“Spurs, 50% of their revenue is going on wages. So Aston Villa are paying too much for these players.
“But when you give them four or five years contracts and they don’t qualify for the Champions League, that’s where you’re going to have problems.”
Europa League victory essential to resolve the club’s financial issues
When Tottenham won the Europa League last year they earned £21million just for winning the competition.
BBC Sport (19 May) reported that earnings from qualifying for the Champions League as a result could earn the Lilywhites as much as £100m depending on how far they go.
The Villans need to replicate Spurs’ success in the second-tier competition in order to get their club’s finances back on track.
| Position | Premier League Teams | Summer 2025 transfer window amount spent |
| 1. | Liverpool | £415m |
| 2. | Chelsea | £285m |
| 3. | Arsenal | £255m |
| 7. | Tottenham | £181m |
| 19. | Aston Villa | £37.5m |
PSR and UEFA’s loss limit restricted what Emery could do in the summer transfer window as lifting the Europa League would inject serious cash into the club.
The Spaniard took the Birmingham based side far in last year’s edition of the Champions League and will be striving to hit the same heights this season.
The Europa League is a tournament the Villains can definitely win but their shocking start to the 2025-26 campaign could see them bow out early on if they’re not careful.